Financial news

• The Guardian view on green homes: solar panels and heat pumps should be a bare minimum | Editorial

  15-05-2025 19:30 via theguardian.com
  Ministers must resist pressure to relax environmental standards in the rush for new housingAlmost two decades after the last Labour government announced a zero carbon homes standard, and with the breaking of temperature records around the world now so normal as to seem routine, it ought to be uncontroversial that new buildings should be as environmentally friendly as possible. Given everything we know about global heating, and the law obliging the UK to reach net zero by 2050, it is disturbing t
  
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• The Guardian view on Europe’s growing wealth divide: back to the world of Balzac | Editorial

  15-05-2025 19:25 via theguardian.com
  A new study highlights the dangers of a modern rentier capitalism that perpetuates inequality through the generationsIn a recent study picked up in the French press, the academic Mélanie Plouviez cites one of her country’s best-loved novelists to make a damning point. The power of inherited and unearned wealth in the France of 2025, she argues, replicates the social injustices found in Honoré de Balzac’s 19th-century chronicles of ambition and despair. As in the 1820s,
  
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• Energy bill defaults hit record high, says ONS

  15-05-2025 19:21 via theguardian.com
  Figures show households struggling, with 2.7% of direct debits for gas and electricity failing due to lack of funds Business live – latest updatesA record proportion of British households were unable to pay their energy bills by direct debit last month because there was not enough money in their bank accounts, according to official government data.More than 2.7% of direct debit payments for gas and electricity defaulted in April due to insufficient funds, the latest figures published by th
  
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• DWP confirms State Pension boost for thousands - but it's not much

  15-05-2025 14:31 via express.co.uk
  
  The additional state pension amount will add just over £1 a month to payments
  
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• Martin Lewis gives ISA £4,000 alert and says 'everyone should have one'

  15-05-2025 13:47 via express.co.uk
  
  Personal finance expert spoke out on BBC podcast adding 'I would absolutely be putting money in there'
  
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• TSB Bank offers customers vital and ‘free’ access to app to ‘boost’ personal safety

  15-05-2025 13:35 via express.co.uk
  
  The announcement builds on the bank's existing support for domestic abuse victims, including an emergency fund and safe spaces to talk.
  
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• Halifax to close 10 branches across UK in June - full list

  15-05-2025 13:22 via express.co.uk
  
  Halifax has confirmed the closure of 10 of its bank branches in June, with further closures later this year.
  
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• British growth surge could stall Bank of England rate cuts

  15-05-2025 12:58 via express.co.uk
  
  The upbeat performance defies earlier warnings of a crisis in business confidence
  
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• Triple lock experts share their predictions for next year's state pension increase

  15-05-2025 12:51 via express.co.uk
  
  State pension payments increased 4.1% in April in line with the triple lock
  
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• Top six Cash ISAs with interest rates of up to 5.71%

  15-05-2025 12:47 via express.co.uk
  
  Savers are urged to make the most of the top interest rates while they're still available.
  
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• New tool reveals how long it will take you to save for your dream home

  15-05-2025 12:28 via express.co.uk
  
  A survey of 2,000 adults who don't own a property found 51% worry they'll never step foot on the property ladder, with the biggest reason being low income.
  
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• Just ignore all the myths about low traffic neighbourhoods: they’re popular, effective and here to stay | Izzy Romilly

  15-05-2025 12:11 via theguardian.com
  After the high court ruled one high-profile scheme unlawful, it is important to make the case for LTNs. Luckily, there is a strong one to makeHope springs eternal among those who have long opposed low-traffic-neighbourhood (LTN) anti-pollution schemes after last week’s high court ruling that Lambeth council in south London had acted unlawfully in ignoring local objections to its latest scheme. “Low traffic neighbourhoods could be scrapped as campaigners score high court victory &ndas
  
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• Martin Lewis urges people with savings to do one 'key' thing today to protect their money

  15-05-2025 11:37 via express.co.uk
  
  The Money Saving Expert founder issued an urgent alert to savers during his latest podcast.
  
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• UK is fastest-growing G7 member after economy expands by 0.7% – business live

  15-05-2025 09:02 via theguardian.com
  UK economy posts its fastest quarterly growth in a year, outpacing rivalsUK economy defies gloomy warnings to grow 0.7% in first quarter of yearChancellor Rachel Reeves has hailed today’s growth figures, pointing out that the UK expanded faster than other major economies in January-March.But … Reeves is also cautioning that there is ‘more to do’:“Today’s growth figures show the strength and potential of the UK economy.“In the first three months of the y
  
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• Post-Covid home working has failed to level up UK economy, study finds

  15-05-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Prevalence of hybrid over fully remote roles dashes hopes of greater geographical spread of talentThe post-pandemic shift to greater home working among highly skilled professionals has failed to level up Britain’s economy and help struggling regions as many had predicted it would, according to academic research.Hybrid working – where workers split their time between the workplace and another remote location such as home – has surged since the height of the Covid pandemic, yet i
  
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• MP to launch bill to target superyachts, private jets and fossil fuel producers

  15-05-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Bill would force major polluters to pay into fund for flood defences and home insulation – but has little chance of becoming lawFossil fuel companies and their shareholders and owners of superyachts and private jets should have to pay into a fund for flood defences and home insulation, according to a private member’s bill to be launched on Thursday.The bill is part of a broader movement by campaigners to “make polluters pay”, demanding that oil and gas companies, and thos
  
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• Labour has denounced me as ‘deeply misleading’ on its planning reform. I wish that were true | George Monbiot

  15-05-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Even it now admits that brick by brick, these proposals will wreck habitats. This could be Starmer’s most damaging mistake yetThe precedent is uncanny, and the failure to learn from it downright mystifying. Keir Starmer is rushing gladly towards the catastrophe Boris Johnson inflicted on himself in 2020. Had he set out to stymie Labour’s chances of re-election, he couldn’t be doing it better.In 2020, Johnson promised “a whole new planning system” for England, which,
  
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• The best men’s walking boots for every type of hiking adventure, tested

  15-05-2025 06:56 via theguardian.com
  Whether you’re heading to the hills on a multi-day trek or need waterproof shoes for countryside walks, these are the best boots for the job – tried and tested by our writer• ‘I’d never head out without one’: 10 hiking essentialsThere are two types of people on any UK hiking trail: those wearing walking boots, and those who have yet to experience the unmistakable sensation of cowpat seeping through their trainers. I belong in the first camp and firmly believe t
  
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• Decision on foreign state stakes in UK press could end Telegraph limbo

  15-05-2025 01:05 via theguardian.com
  Cap of 15% could allow US firm RedBird Capital to finalise deal to buy titles after two years of uncertaintyThe government will allow foreign states to own stakes of up to 15% in British newspapers in a move that could finally end two years of uncertainty over the ownership of the Telegraph titles.The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is to announce the limit on Thursday through the introduction of a new statutory instrument in parliament, ending a months-long consultation involving intens
  
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• Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank in high winds, says report

  15-05-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Investigators said Bayesian, which sank in Italy killing 15 people, was destabilised by windThe late tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s superyacht, Bayesian, sank after it was hit by winds of around 117km/h that drove the vessel past its point of stability and caused downflooding over the starboard rail, according to a preliminary safety report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).The investigators said Bayesian may have been vulnerable to high winds when running on its engine and that
  
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• London dominates England’s social mobility league with top 20 places

  15-05-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Sutton Trust ‘opportunity index’ measured factors such as children on free school meals passing key GCSEsThe top 20 constituencies with the best social mobility in England are all in London, according to research from a leading education charity that underscores the stark regional divide in children’s life chances.In a report published on Thursday, the Sutton Trust has put together an “opportunity index” by analysing six measures of mobility. These include the share
  
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